Flora of New Zealand Series

Queensland poplar

Glabrous shrub or small tree up to 5 m high. Twigs rounded, slightly ribbed. Lvs ovate to rhombic, truncate to obtuse at base, acute to acuminate or rarely obtuse at apex, (3)-5-15-(20) cm long, usually turning red in cooler part of year; seedling lvs broadly ovate, truncate at base; petioles >, =, or < blade; stipules soon deciduous. Racemes up to 17 cm long, usually with few solitary long-pedicellate ♀ fls below or at base, and many clusters of (1)-3-4 short-pedicellate ♂ fls (racemes rarely unisexual, or with 1-2 ♂ fls clustered with upper ♀); each group of fls subtended by a bract and 2 prominent glands. ♂ fls: stamens 4-10; perianth segments 2. ♀ fls: ovary 2-celled; styles 2. Fr. ± smooth, grooved between the 2 cells, ridged on keels, glaucous, 8-10 mm diam.

N.: scattered localities in Northland, and occasional in Auckland City and on Little Barrier Id, collected once from Tauranga and Pukerua Bay (Wellington).

N.S.W. northwards to New Guinea 1980

Mixed secondary vegetation, waste places.

Queensland poplar is frequently cultivated in N.Z. and occasionally escapes. This sp. has, in the past, been confused with the endemic H. polyandrus although the 2, while superficially similar, are not closely related within the genus [ see, Sykes, W. R., New Zealand J. Bot. 7: 302-307 (1969)].